Story+1981-04-24+Lyon,+France

“Thank you...listen…if, uh, if you guys can do me a favour and don’t push this way ‘cause there’s people up here that are getting squashed very, very tight…and, and if you watch the people around you, if somebody wants to get out of there because it’s, you’re awful tight in there so if somebody feels sick or you’re passing out or something, if you wanna get out, just raise your hand or something, somebody will try and help you out, alright?...this is, uh …this is called “Independence Day” (crowd cheers) thank you, I need a little quiet for this, thank you very much…(intro music starts)…I grew up in this, in this small town, it was only about ten thousand people and…as I got older, I’d look around me…and it seemed like everybody that I’d grown up with were let, was letting everything just pass ‘em by, they were settling into the same jobs that their fathers, their mothers had…and it seemed like there was no, no way to get out of there and…and I started to look around and I tried to think, tried to see what we all had in common, I looked back at my father and he worked in a plastics’ factory, and I looked back at his father and he worked in a rug mill in this same town…and the one thing that we, that we had in common was that we didn’t know enough…we didn’t…we couldn’t understand the things, the things and the forces that made us who were and (crowd cheers) and the only place that I could get any sense of life was out of the radio when I’d listen to the singers…to rock’n’roll that was, that was coming over the air in the middle sixties…and… because it seemed like in school I couldn’t get the information I needed and I couldn’t get it on the street and I couldn’t get it from my friends…and lately I, I went back and I started to read this book, it was called “The History of the United States” (some cheers) and, and then you find out, I found out how, just how I got to be who I am and how I was in, how I was in the place that I was in, and what happened to my father and what happened his father and why they never, they never got a chance to use the strength and the power that was inside of ‘em (crowd cheers) and how, and how these things, as you get older, get crushed and until, until they just disappear…so… the important thing is try…is try and find out…who you are and how you, how you are where you are tonight (crowd cheers) because otherwise you just end up a victim and you don’t even know the victim of what…”
 * 24.04.81 Lyon, France, intro to “Independence Day”**

“Thanks for being so quiet, thank you (crowd cheers)…this is a song that was written by, by John Fogerty, it’s called “Who’ll Stop the Rain?”…”
 * 24.04.81 Lyon, France, intro to “Who’ll Stop the Rain?” (following “Independence Day”)**

“This is…when I was, uh…in 1977, I guess, we played, we played a show in Memphis, Tennesee (some cheers) and it was late, it was late at night and me and, me and Steve went down…taxi, we got into a taxi and the driver took us down to Elvis Presley’s house, Graceland (some cheers) and it was all locked up, but there was a light on in the window and I said “Steve, I gotta, I gotta go see if he’s home” and I climbed over the wall and ran up to the front door and a guard came out of the woods and told me I had to get out so …which is ok because I hate it when people come around and come knocking on my door (chuckles) but, you know…not long after that he died and, and I thought for a long time about, about the things that must have happened to him and maybe what, what could have happened to him if, uh…if it’d been a little better…a little better world he was living in and…on the last tour I started to sing this song and this is a song, it’s a song about freedom, about being able to – it’s a dream, you know, it’s not, you can’t find it there but it’s just a song about living free, about not having to die for poor or without a job or working in some factory (?)(some people in the crowd start clapping their hands sort of impatiently but stop)…and it’s about not having to die in some big million-dollar mansion with a whole, with a whole lot of nothing running through your veins so …’cause he sure deserved better than that…”
 * 24.04.81 Lyon, France, intro to “This Land Is Your Land”**

“We have with us tonight…to the far left of the stage (crowd cheers) the only member of the band (crowd cheers) with a full high school diploma (crowd cheers) let’s hear it for education (crowd cheers) and Professor Roy Bittan (crowd cheers) play it, Roy (Roy plays a piece) (crowd cheers) on the guitar…Miami Steve Van Zandt (crowd cheers) on the bass, Mr. Garry W. Tallent (crowd cheers) on the drums, the Mighty Max Weinberg (crowd cheers) on the organ, from Flemington, New Jersey (crowd cheers) how many folks here from Flemington tonight? (crowd cheers) alright – Phantom Dan Federici on the organ (crowd cheers) now last but not least…the undeniable…let me say he’s, he’s…he’s…king of the world (crowd cheers) master of disaster (crowd cheers) emperor of all things (crowd cheers) he’s faster than a speeding bullet (crowd cheers) more powerful than a roaring locomotive (crowd cheers) able to leap tall women – I mean tall buildings in a single bound (crowd cheers) is it a bird? (crowd: “No”) is it a plane? (crowd: “No”) is it the Big Man, Clarence Clemons? (crowd cheers)…”
 * 24.04.81 Lyon, France, middle of “Rosalita”**

“Wait a minute…wait a minute…wait a minute…wait a minute…wait a minute…wait a minute…wait a minute…wait a minute (crowd cheers) wait a minute (crowd cheers) wait a minute (crowd cheers) wait a minute (crowd cheers) wait a minute (crowd cheers) wait a minute (crowd cheers) wait a minute (crowd cheers)…now…Big Man …I think…I think I got a gas crisis…I think I’m running low on gas… I’m running out of gas now, Bubba…I’m running low…got a gas crisis…no…can’t get make it no further…we don’t need no gas…we don’t need no gas…we don’t no car…leave the car home, leave the car by the side of the road…leave the car by the side of the road… (?)…oh…we don’t need no car because…because…because (crowd cheers) I see a train coming on down…[sings “I hear a train”]…”
 * 24.04.81 Lyon, France, middle of “Detroit Medley”**

“This is…this is, this is our last show in France and I’d like to thank, I’d like to thank everybody, oh (?) I’d like to thank everybody for coming down to the show, thank you very much (crowd cheers) I’d like to thank you guys who were in Paris when we were there a while ago…these guys and…this is our first time over here and, and I wanna thank you for giving us such a, such a warm reception (crowd cheers)…”
 * 24.04.81 Lyon, France, intro to “Rockin’ All Over the World”**

//Compiled by Johanna Pirttijärvi//